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Martin
Martin was a FOX network sitcom starring comedian Martin Lawrence in the title role. It was created by John Bowman, Martin Lawrence & Topper Carew. Other cast members of the show featured Thomas Mikal Ford, Tisha Campbell, Carl Anthony Payne II and Tichina Arnold. The series premiered on August 27, 1992 and became one of FOX's highest-rated shows during its run. On May 1, 1997, the show ended after 5 seasons and 132 episodes. Plot Set in Detroit, the series stars Martin Lawrence in the role of Martin Payne, a disc jockey with a girlfriend named Gina Waters. He works for the fictional radio station WZUP and later for local Public-access television station Channel 51. A common theme of the series is Martin's ornery and wayward nature. In early episodes, Martin Lawrence began with a monologue of him speaking to the camera and audience from the darkened radio studio. The episodes often centered on Martin's inconsiderate behaviors and incessant smart mouth towards his friends, neighbors, and whoever else finds themselves in his presence. When all is said and done, however, Martin loves his family and friends—it just takes dire situations for him to show it. As the series progressed, plotlines saw Martin eventually move on to become the host of the talk show "Word on the Street " which aired on the small Detroit Public-access television station Channel 51. He retained this position until the series' final episode, in which he and Gina prepared to move to Los Angeles, California from where his show would be syndicated nationally). The move coincided fortuitously with Gina's promotion by her boss Mr. Whitaker to head up his company's new Los Angeles headquarters, after having shut down the Detroit office. Pam (whom Whitaker let go two episodes earlier due to this consolidation and downsizing) went on to pursue a career in the music industry as an artists & repertoire (A&R) executive at Keep It Real Records. (This plotline is the subject of a backdoor pilot episode that was included in the Martin series for a planned sitcom on Fox starring Tichina Arnold to be called "Goin' for Mine", but it never materialized). And at the series' end, Cole proposed to his even more dimwitted, but attractive and devoted girlfriend Shanise (portrayed by Maura McDade and they made plans to move into their own place. The only actor to appear in every episode as the same character is Thomas Mikal Ford as Tommy. In 1997, Tisha Campbell filed a lawsuit against her co-star Martin Lawrence and the show's producers for sexual harassment, verbal assaults and physical assaults & did not appear in most of the season five episodes. The explanation in most of the episodes that Tisha Campbell did not appear in was that Gina was "out on business" even though in the two-part episode "Going Overboard," it was stated that Gina had arrived too late to board the boat for the trip alongside everyone else. HBO Studios eventually settled the case with Campbell so that the show's last season could be completed. Campbell did return to the "Martin" set to film the two-part season finale under the condition that she would not share any scenes with or interact in any way with Martin Lawrence. In the episode, Martin and Gina kept entering and exiting the sets at different times and the storyline was adjusted so that the characters were both part of it but never crossed paths. Cast *Martin Lawrence as Martin Payne *Tisha Campbell as Gina Waters *Carl Anthony Payne II as Cole Brown *Thomas Mikal Ford as Tommy Strong *Tichina Arnold as Pam James *Garrett Morris as Stan Winters 1-2 *Jon Gries as Shawn 1-2 Accolades Category:FOX Shows Category:1990s television shows Category:Sitcoms Category:Comedy